Past Shadows
by Festus Flare
Summary: No matter how dark her path becomes, and how much despair she ever faces, Asada Shino will always manage to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Even when the shadows of her past comes to haunt her at night, she will still find refuge in her loving family, especially her beloved husband. After all, life is nothing like a fairy tale, but she would never have it any other way.


Running.

Every night for all she could remember, that was the only thing Shino had done.

She felt tired from the eternity of running she had done, continuously trying to escape from the shadows of her past but with no escape in sight. The feeling of fatigue forced her to stop. She was at her limits, and she had no ability to overcome it.

The sniper rifle she held in her hand, her trademark PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II did little in terms of driving them away. There was no point in shooting back, the darkness simply engulfed the bullets and repelled them, sending them flying all the way back to her and causing more harm towards the bespectacled girl. It happens every time she tries to shoot it, and Shino had stopped her futile attempts all together.

'Weak' was the first thing that Shino thought of, looking at her frail and pathetic form. Her real life body was a stark contrast to her online counterpart, Sinon, and she was well aware of that. In this body, Shino was weak and easily terrified. The gun in her arms felt alien to her. It belonged to someone else; familiar but stronger, faster – better than she.

An image she could not hope to achieve

She raised her rifle to shoot again but it merely clicked at the shadows. A wave of fear struck Shino as she realised that her only form of comfort had betrayed her, and she held on to the weapon tighter. Without warning, the gun suddenly dispersed into an array of polygons, leaving her defenceless against the terrors that chased after her. Shino reached out her hands, trying to grasp the shattered bits of data fruitlessly.

It was in her weakened form that the shadows finally managed to catch up to her. The only thing she did was blink as the nothingness swam around her, distorting her sense of reality.

When she finally managed to see again, Shino realised that her vision was blurry. She tried to shout and scream, but her voice was caught up in her throat. Glancing down at herself, she realised that her body was smaller, weaker than it usually was, just like that of an infant.

That familiar feeling of inertia from riding in a moving vehicle— a car, she soon realized caught Shino by surprise, and she quickly darted her head around. That was when she realised that she was firmly strapped down to the back seat of the vehicle, protecting her from any harm. At the driver's seat was a man whom Shino could feel a vague sense of recollection, laughing as he spoke with the woman by his side.

The woman, though, made chills run through her spine. Her beautiful hair which was brushed neatly and had the distinct smell of jasmine, the postures she took on while sitting, even the flashes of her all too familiar smile as she turned to talk to the man. There was no mistaking it, this person was her mother. This quickly alerted her to the fact that the man must have been her deceased father. And this scene…

There was no mistaking it, this was the day her entire life turned upside down.

A picturesque view indeed, if the young girl did not already know the outcome of the event. In her mind, she was shouting as loud as she can, warning the driver of the danger looming ahead and asking him to stop the car. Her attempts at heroism fell on deaf ears as the driver saw the truck that was swerving off the street too late, causing devastation and ruin to the landscape.

**"You can never change the past."**

The striking figure of an older girl with hair as blue as the sky and a face as cold as ice sat beside her in the wreckage, completely ignoring the chaos of twisted metal and shattered glass around her as she crossed her arms coolly. The girl stared straight ahead at the woman, whose face quickly distorted into that of an older woman crying in pain. It twisted and reformed itself, turning into faces of discontent, to horror, to insanity.

Her online persona, Sinon had come to her in her dreams once again. However, despite them being one and the same, Shino still felt inferior to this cold princess. It was as if they were worlds apart, living in different planes of reality. Sinon only glanced at her real life form in discontent, judging Shino with her piercing gaze.

All the while, Shino could only cry as she tried to reach out to the couple at the front of the car. However, no matter how much she strived to calm them down, there was nothing she could do.

She blinked.

The solid black form of a pistol appeared in her grasp. It felt very heavy in her quivering hands, a faint trail of smoke rising up from the tip of it. For some reason, Shino felt her hands being moist and wet. Her mouth muttered prayers, hoping that she wasn't feeling what she had identified as human blood. However, those prayers were not answered. Her eyes still stared at the thick red goo that dripped from her innocent civilian hands and the black murder weapon.

**"Have you no resolve?"** the blue-haired girl blinked into existence beside Shino **"Could you not overcome this simple tragedy and become stronger, or are you just too weak to do it?"**

It was a surprise Shino could even hear those words, considering that her train of thought was caught up on something else.

A man, twitching and writhing in pain stood before her. His face was blown open, releasing a dark gunk-like spray of blood from where he stood. Half of his eyeball was spilling out a clear white liquid as he tried to hold his destroyed head in one piece. He could not even scream since his mouth was hanging open in agony. One of his limp hands, dyed in the colour of blood was pointing at the eleven year old girl, accusing her of her greatest sin.

**"Murderer."**

Shino's shouts of denial rang through the empty bank. The more she shouted, the more black figures with accusing eyes appeared before her as their thoughts came shooting towards the girl. She was a murderer, a rotten criminal. The accusing glares made Shino drop onto the ground, hugging her knees in a foetal position. Slowly, faces started to take form on the blank figures where faces were on an average person. They were all her old schoolmates, throwing looks of disgust and hatred at her, judging her.

**"She shot him!"**

**"That girl is a killer!"**

**"Get away from us, you freak!"**

Their cruel glares gazed through her, slowly turning her invisible as her presence was slowly erased from existence. Harsh shouts overlapped each other till they all sounded like a dragon's vicious roar, forcing her to cover her ears in agony. However, in that black sea of tormenting shouts, hope appeared in the faintest of whispers.

**"Come with me, and we could escape this world together,"** echoed the familiar voice of someone Shino trusted more than anything in the world **"This is no place here for someone like us."**

With no other option at hand, Shino's trembling hand held on to the icy cold hand of the shadowy figure, and it quickly morphed into a familiar face. The surroundings had turned quiet and Shino felt a sense of familiarity rush over her as she remembered this scene. It was her room back when she lived alone in an apartment during her high school years.

The boy before smiled warmly, trying to calm down the panicking girl. However, her instincts warned her of danger, of distrust, and of betrayal. His body looked like a jumbled up mishmash of two people; one half looked to be a skinny boy with eyes that looked way too sad for someone his age, the other half was that of a hunter out thirsting for the blood of his next target while fixing his camouflage suit.

**"Humans are all greedy by nature. If they cannot get what they want, then they will go mad trying to obtain it. How many people will honestly befriend you without an ulterior motive?"**

Shino had to agree with her cold persona as she saw the one person she had once considered her friend slowly reveal a syringe in his once clenched hand. A shrill laugh escaped from him as tears of blood streamed down his cheeks, laughing at his friend's expense. All of a sudden, his body stopped jerking and the insane man raised his arm, aiming straight for Shino's chest. His voice, so devoid of its usual joyful banter, ringed in her ears.

**"Asada-san… Asada-san… Asada-san… Asada-san…"**

The weird chanting continued on and on as he finally brought the needle down, stabbing her through her chest. He raised it once more and swung it downwards again, and again, and again. Every time he did, Shino felt a part of herself chip away until all that remained was her head. She tried to move around, but it was no use. The world had disappeared, leaving behind only darkness.

Glowing red eyes stared into Shino's own lifeless grey ones, followed by a skull mask. It did nothing, but its mere presence shook Shino down to the core. Once again, Shino wished that she was not pathetically weak as her tears fell down her face. Beside the skull mask, a gun had materialised from the shadows and aimed right at Shino's head.

It was over. Her life had been one roller coaster filled with despair after despair, and she could not change it even if she wanted to. As the first tear dripped onto the floor, the gun fired a shot, blowing up the head in a blinding explosion of colourful polygons.

* * *

A blood curling scream echoed through the house, waking its occupants and fellow neighbours.

The raven-haired woman panted as she gasped for air, tightening the covers around her body. Her cheeks were wet from the tears that streamed down. It was the same dream, repeating over and over again in an endless loop of depression.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the doctors had told her countless times. She had tried to get it cured, for the benefit of everyone, but it would not go away. She was given countless hours of counselling sessions and antipsychotic drugs in an attempt to free her of her shackles, and it had worked to a certain extent. There were still times when her brain betrayed her and she was forced to live out her darkest memories like a movie on repeat. Her scars ran far too deep to heal, even after all the years that had passed.

The darkness, the despair, the shadows – they all taunted her in her dreams. They laughed at her, showing her glimpses of her past that she wanted to forget. They made her give in to her primal fear and need to escape from those whom had harmed her. They never wanted to leave, knowing that they have a target right before them, frozen in fear and self-loathing.

As the thoughts and memories of the darkness swelled up inside her head, Shino felt the familiar sensation of warm hands pulling her into a hug. They buried her head in the person's chest, strong arms wrapping her shaking body. The person stroked her back, trying to comforting her with calming words. It wasn't much to drive out all of the shadows, but it certainly did help. She felt her tense body slowly loosen up as she allowed herself to be taken over by the warmth of the person who was tending to her, putting her at ease.

"Shh, it's okay, Shino," cooed the man who was holding her in this sweet embrace, "They're nightmares; they're not real. They can't hurt you anymore. It's over, it was just a bad dream. Shh…"

Shino couldn't help but sigh at the man's speech, struggling to believe them as her body continued to shake from fear. For ten slow minutes, the couple sat like that on their bed, allowing the time to pass by as they held each other's embrace. Finally, with a final sigh, the adult woman pulled back from the hug, and looked at her dear husband as she wiped her tears with trembling hands.

"Th-Thank you, Kazuto," Shino muttered softly as the last of her worries finally disappeared "I-I think I'm feeling better now."

"That's a relief," sighed Kazuto before softly kissing her on the forehead.

Kazuto knew that his wife had improved greatly from the sad mess she was back when they first met. No longer was she the sad girl who was wearing a mask to cover her face; who forced herself to overcome any trial that came her way without much care for her personal safety. Her nightmares, which once plagued her every night, now came after long intervals. Even her sudden panic attacks were slowly disappearing. She did not freeze up and drop to the ground whenever she heard the sound of gunshots.

Her strategy of overexposure was surely working, especially considering her line of work. Every day, she would stand by and watch as the rookie officers practiced their aiming and gun control, and the consistency of the occurrence had made her mind accept that she was in no danger, and was not causing any harm to anyone.

"It's not good enough, though," Shino retorted "It's been years now, and I still can't go to a funeral without fainting. I'm still not over my hoplophobia, and the kids must think that I'm a pathetic excuse for a policewoman. I mean, who's ever heard of a police officer that's scared of guns?"

Kazuto looked over at his wife as he felt the dreaded sense of guilt for not being able to understand her plight. Even though he has had his share of despair, it always seemed to pale in comparison to everything Shino had gone through in his mind. It was like her life was a walking textbook filled with misfortune after misfortune. Although, he also knew how strong this had made her and how she wouldn't be the person she is today if she had not gone through all those hardships.

That, at the very least, made him smile.

"No, they don't," he smiled as he cupped his wife's face, bringing it closer to his own. "They think you're strong, that you deserve happiness more than anyone else in the world. I would know, because that's how I feel too. They really look up to you. You should have read Takeshi's essay on how you're his role model!"

The thought of their eight year old son writing a story on how much he adored his mother brought a smile to Shino's face. He was always so hopeful and bubbly. Who knows what jumbled up mess of happy thoughts he had written down about his mother that strayed so far from reality? She remembered the young child asking her about her favourite pastimes and most memorable moments, furiously jotting them down on a piece of paper.

"And Kuroko, too," Kazuto added "She might not show it, but she loves you more than anything. I had to go meet her school principal once because she was fighting with a boy who had insulted you."

Kuroko, who was always silently judging people with her dark, piercing eyes and sharp tongue. The mere thought of her eldest daughter, only fourteen years of age fighting to protect her honour was certainly a surprise for her, albeit a lovely one. Of course Kazuto and Kuroko would hide the fact that their daughter had gotten into a fight at school from Shino; they were probably under an agreement to not cause the already stressed out woman any more reason to worry.

It was easy to believe that they truly did love her and look up to her. After all, she had been looking after them for her entire life. However, there were always those moments when she would start panicking on the floor, crying and struggling as her children watched. Those moments should have had a negative impact on them, but it surprisingly didn't.

She briefly recalled the day she had taken her children to the supermarket to buy groceries. Kazuto was not around, since he had to work overtime that day. Shino was alone with Takeshi and Kuroko, with no one to help calm her down if she ever has a panic attack.

The world seemed to have conspired against her that day, as it was the very day a child had run into a stack of canned food, making it crash and clutter all over the floor. The sound of the tins knocking against the concrete floor was reminiscent to that of a bomb, or a machine gun mowing down soldiers.

It was too much for Shino to handle.

Her hands grew cold as she let go of Takeshi's hand, making him look up at his mother in confusion. Imagine his shock when he was met with the terrified, blank face of his mother. Before he even managed to call out to her, Shino screamed.

The shrill shriek echoed through the walls of the supermarket as Shino dropped onto her knees, clutching her arms in an attempt to protect herself against enemies that did not exist. Bystanders started moving towards her, hoping to assist her in any way possible. Throughout the chaos, Takeshi started shaking his mother, crying out to her and asking for help. Kuroko was shouting at the top of her lungs, asking for anyone with medical knowledge to help her mother.

Several minutes had passed until Shino had finally calmed down and brought to a medical room where she could calm down. Her children stayed beside her all the time, praying that she would heal. When Kazuto caught wind of this, he had vowed to always accompany Shino whenever she leaves the house, unless she had asked him not to come.

As Kazuto leaned in closer and warmly placed his lips over his wife's own soft lips in a tender kiss, Shino allowed her mind to wander. The two of them were happily married, even though they didn't always see eye to eye and argued over many menial things. They had children who caused chaos and havoc wherever they went, and they were a handful to take care of. However, she wouldn't have it any other way. There was no such thing as 'Happily Ever After'. Those were only reserved in fairy tales.

This was as good as reality could get, and she was just fine with that.

Their lovely bonding moment was soon broken as they heard the sound of a small hand knocking on their bedroom door. The married couple looked at it with an understanding gaze, knowing who it would be. Kazuto smiled at Shino once more before walking towards the door, unlocking it and opening it calmly.

"Uh… Hi, Papa," the childish voice of a young boy was heard

"Takeshi here had a bad dream, so he wanted to sleep with you guys," spoke another voice, this time with a more irritated tone "He was too much of a wuss to come here himself, so he asked if I could come with him."

Shino peeked at the doorway to look at her two children, both with varying levels of fatigue. She wondered if they actually came over because they heard her shrill shriek. Kazuto said that they were willing to defend her, even if she didn't know it. Maybe they did just want to comfort her in her time of need.

Takeshi stumbled in at first and jumped onto the bed, hugging his mother tightly with a bright smile. His spiky hair, which was made even spikier thanks to the bedhead he had, grazed against Shino's soft skin. In a matter of seconds, he quickly fell asleep, smile still in place. Did he really just have a nightmare? It surely didn't look like it in Shino's eyes. But then again, when was the boy not beaming and emitting a tranquil aura throughout the immediate vicinity?

It was harder to usher Kuroko in, and Kazuto had to give her a nudge before she finally agreed to enter the room and sleep there, something she had once claimed as "childish and immature," as well as saying "it's something I would only do again if the moon is on a collision course with the Earth." As she took a spare pillow from her father's side of the bed, Kuroko dropped it onto the carpet in front of the bed and flopped onto it, allowing her waist-length ebony hair to spread across the floor. Whether or not she was truly sleeping, Shino would never know.

Kazuto walked over to his daughter, softly stroking her unruly locks before returning to his bed. He lied down, facing Shino's calm, tired face before falling into a peaceful slumber. His arm was stretched across his sleeping son as he held onto his wife's free hand.

With Kazuto's hand holding her, Takeshi cuddling against her chest as if she was a throw pillow, and Kuroko lying motionless on the carpeted floor, Shino started to feel more at ease. Perhaps she would not have another nightmare tonight.

On that cool night, Shino dreamed of her past once more. Only this time, she managed to dream of her most precious moments, all leading up to her current life.

* * *

"Shino, can we meet up at that café near your place? If you're free, that is."

The bespectacled girl looked at her cellphone in disbelief, wondering if this was some sort of prank by the more childish members of her class. After all, it was a general fact that she frequently hangs out with a male friend from another school, and people were starting to spread rumours and speculations on what their relationship was. The most common one would be that they were dating, while another one regarding her having an unrequited love for the boy was also quite popular.

None of them were true, of course. She was obviously not Kazuto's girlfriend, and she had denied having any sort of feelings for him since they were mostly out of respect for the growing teen. Not to mention that Kazuto already had a girlfriend.

"Well, I'm busy making preparations for the graduating ceremony in my school, so I don't think I could," Shino explained "What about this weekend? I don't have anything planned for Saturday."

"Sure, thanks," Kazuto said in a soft tone as he hung up the call.

Graduation Day.

It was finally coming, the day that would end their days as high school students and officially make them adults who were going to face the true difficulty of reality. Shino, who was the Student Council's secretary, was tasked with preparing the final speech for the Third Year students' representative. It was not something that she had asked to do, but it was certainly a good distraction for her while waiting for the day to finally come.

At the back of her mind, Shino wondered what Kazuto wanted to talk about. He wasn't the type of person to ask to meet someone personally, so it did raise a few questions. Realising that it wasn't worth it to think about it lest she starts getting her hopes up, Shino returned to the task at hand.

Days came and pass in the blink of an eye, and Shino soon found herself sitting on a bench overlooking her school's garden. Her graduation diploma rested in her hands, something she couldn't really accept to be within her grasp. Her time as a student was over, and she was finally going to be an adult. What trials and hardships will she have to go through in this phase of life?

"Come on, Shino. You're worrying too much."

Shino looked at the boy sitting next to her, a classmate she had befriended during her time in the Archery Club. After befriending Kazuto and his gang, she had attempted to socialise with her fellow schoolmates more. Many have started to accepted her and became her friend, but this boy was closer than most.

When Shino had just joined the club a few days after starting her archer Cait Sith in ALO, she was partnered up with the boy, who was as enthusiastic as a blind man in a silent movie theatre. However, his view on her changed when Shino had successfully hit a bull's eye, although it was merely out of pure luck rather than skill. Impressed by Shino's shooting skills, Fujiwara Hayato agreed to help her in training her archery and the two had a fun student-teacher relationship.

The two of them had also been studying together, since the boy was a genius and had studied the topics beforehand. He would have been on the teachers' good books if he wasn't a chain smoker or had a slight superiority complex; habits Shino had tried and failed to make him stop.

"You're a smart girl, you'll make it through," he continued, noticing that he had his older sister figure's attention "You know what you should be worrying about more? Your meeting with Kazuto this weekend."

"It's probably nothing, Hayato," Shino retorted, silently cursing herself for accidentally letting the topic slip "It's probably about one of his games, again. And if you're implying anything sexual, then I will repeat that we are not dating."

"I'm not talking about dating," the boy, Hayato continued without missing a beat. He had long since been trained to remember that the two weren't dating "Think about it; He wants to talk to you personally, in a place where you rarely ever go to, and he doesn't tell you what it is that he wants to talk about. If anything's going to happen, I'll bet my ass that it's going to be personal."

There was some truth to what he had said, and Shino had to confess that she did think about it a few more times. However, it contradicted greatly with what she knew of her friend, who would rather discuss something over games rather than in real life. If it truly was something personal, then Shino didn't know how she would handle it.

"It'll be fine, don't worry," said Hayato as he crossed his arms "Who knows? Maybe something good will happed out of it."

After a few minutes and some final goodbyes, the two parted ways. It was fun having someone to talk to at school; especially someone who didn't raise the topic of her love life every time, but all meetings must come to an end. Perhaps they will meet in the future, or perhaps they won't. Still, Shino was glad to have received some motivation to meet Kazuto.

It turns out that Hayato was right. Kazuto did call her to talk on an extremely heavy topic, and she had no idea how to handle it.

"What do you mean, 'Asuna and I broke up'?" Shino asked once more, not truly believing what she just heard.

Kazuto shrugged his shoulders as he let a sigh escape his mouth. The coffee they had both ordered were both growing colder by the second. Luck had been on their side when they found a quiet section of the café that nobody was sitting at, and they were free to talk all they want. If people were sitting anywhere nearby, heads would have turned to look at them in surprise and amusement.

"Like I told you, we broke up," Kazuto repeated, clutching the cup in front of him tighter.

He had been hesitant to talk about the topic, and Shino was more than ready to comply and let him find the right time to speak up. To break the tension, they had talked about what had happened during their own graduation ceremonies, like how Keiko had somehow managed to crash into the graduation party and caused an uproar, or how Shino's school representative had stumbled through the speech that the girl had prepared due to the difficult kanji she had used. It almost felt like a usual meet up at Dicey Café.

She did not expect him to suddenly announce that he had broken up with his girlfriend of two years. Shino had almost choked on her coffee, coughing and sputtering in a frantic attempt to let the information sink in.

Ever since Asuna and Rika had graduated one year prior, they had been able to meet less and less. It was even harder for Asuna, who was going to a college overseas and barely had any time to herself to call, much less go online and play. However, everyone was under the impression that Kazuto and Asuna somehow managed to make their relationship work despite the long distance.

"You have to admit, our relationship was doomed from the start" Kazuto carried on, stirring his cup slowly "We practically rushed into it, and gotten married without even dating first. We never took our marriage in SAO seriously, and didn't even bother with marriage in the real world. And then we got into an argument. Some harsh words were thrown around here and there, and… we finally realised that we weren't cut out for a relationship if we couldn't even handle a simple argument."

Shino silently sipped her cup of coffee, trying to register all the information as her friend listed his troubles off one by one. She had never really asked how he had gotten together with Asuna, so it came off as a surprise when she heard their history together. It did sound wrong, but some people have stranger relationships, right?

"Turns out that real life wasn't all fun and games, you know?" laughed Kazuto as he tried to lighten the mood, but to no avail "We were just kids who thought that romance was all about kissing and hugging. We didn't get to know each other better. Heck, I never even went to her house. I guess that we expected romance to be like all those cheesy anime or manga we read. And Asuna would have preferred the amazing swordsman Kirito over the plain old Kazuto, anyway."

The two of them stayed silent after Kazuto had finally vented out his sorrow to Shino, and finally started drinking his cup of coffee. For the next few minutes, the two of them were only left with their thoughts to wander.

Of course, the bespectacled girl was already too scared to actually say anything. Why did Kazuto have to suddenly gush out everything to her? She wasn't a psychiatrist, she wasn't ready to hear his darkest thoughts! However, the deed had been done. When she was finally sure that Kazuto was done talking and had said all that he wanted to say, Shino looked at him and spoke in a soft tone in an attempt to calm him down, and to calm herself down as well.

"I'm sorry to say this, but this is just how reality works," she started, trying not to look him in the eyes "It has its ups and downs, and we're all just a part of this big emotional rollercoaster. There is no such thing as a perfect relationship. You couldn't lead a relationship out of pure love alone. There's trust, and patience, and a lot of other things that make up a relationship. Don't blame Asuna for the failed relationship, though. You set yourself up as the epic hero of Aincrad, and she set her expectations of you too high. So in a way, you're both in the wrong."

Kazuto nodded knowingly. He must have already thought up of the exact same reasons during the time between his break up and the conversation, so all that Shino did was remind him of his own foolishness. Realising that she may have added more salt on Kazuto's wounds, Shino stumbled across her next words.

"I like you the way you are, though," Shino added, forcing a small smile on her lips "And it's not just me, either. Ryoutarou, for one, likes you. And then there's Suguha, too. So don't get tied up in a knot over it."

A muffled 'thanks' was whispered out of Kazuto's mouth and the two continued their bout of silence. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Kazuto started talking about how much he was progressing in GGO without Shino's knowing, and had challenged her to a duel. Once again, the two gamers have returned to the topic of games, and they wouldn't have ended it any other way.

The holidays had kicked in, and the two young adults find themselves with too much free time. In order to use up their remaining time accordingly, they both decided to spend as much time together as they can. It didn't take a scientist for people to realise that Kazuto's friendship with Shino was not that close compared to his other friends. Of course, Kazuto had more than enough time to bond with everyone else in SAO, while Suguha was already his sister. She had come in as a late addition.

They had started hanging around more often, eating at shops and playing games together whenever they found the time to. Occasionally, Kazuto would be accompanied by a girl named Kana Akiko.

The first thing that popped into Shino's head was the question of how these two were related. Surely, she has never heard of a "Kana Akiko" before. But the way they spoke to each other sounded as if they were old friends. Shino was never going to admit that she felt a twinge of jealousy when she saw the two of them playing around, but she didn't want to jump to conclusions.

The two girls had never met before, and Shino could only remember slight instances of her name cropping up in conversations. Right now, they were only living off of whatever Kazuto had told them about each other.

Shino did not really enjoy the fact.

"Oh, so this is the Ice Sniper I've been hearing so much about?" she smiled wickedly as she spoke with a slight nasal flare "I always wondered why Ki-bou would talk so highly of you, and I think I could see why."

For some reason, that comment had made Shino feel more self-conscious than it should have.

It was actually a few weeks into the holiday before she found out that Akiko was actually the famous information broker, Argo the Rat. They did meet on several occasions in ALO, and she should have really picked up the fact that Akiko was Argo when they both called Kazuto "Ki-bou". Even so, the two of them became rather close during their time together.

Akiko was a strange person to be around. Most of the time, Shino could strike a regular conversation with her as if she emitted this strange aura that just made you have to trust her. However, there are some moments where she just wants to take her wallet and stuff it in a safe, as far away from her as possible. There was always one thing Shino had noted about her, though. Even if she didn't have any proof to it, she liked to think that she was right for the most part.

Akiko might actually have a small crush on Kazuto.

It wasn't all that obvious. But then again, how could you fully understand what Akiko was thinking? One moment she could be hugging the guy and saying that she would never let go. The next, she would have already stolen his wallet and used it to buy ice cream. To some extent, she actually liked the fact that Argo was proving to Kazuto that people still liked him, whether she knew about his dilemma or not.

Shino was more than ready to keep quiet about the crush, but Akiko still somehow found out about her knowing her secret. She had expected the information broker to tell her to keep quiet about it, or to threaten to spill every last one of the bespectacled woman's own dark vault of secrets. What she didn't expect was for her to laugh so heartily, she could have been sprayed with laughing gas.

"Yeah, I like him," she had admitted herself with a grin "But hey, I've known him since the Beta. I don't really care if he does like me or not. Having him as a friend is fun, too. He should be happy with who he wants, right? And please, how am I supposed to sell information about Ki-bou if people knew that I was dating him?"

A relieved sigh escaped Shino's mouth. Akiko, however, quickly picked up on her action and elbowed her.

"Oi, don't tell me you like him too, Sin-chi."

Shino spent most of the next hour trying to dismiss that statement.

* * *

To this day, Takeshi would happily jump in joy whenever he heard that their Aunt Akiko was coming over. She was a great friend to the kids, even managing to get into Kuroko's private life, something that not many people managed to accomplish. Although, Kazuto still suspected Akiko, now a proud reporter, of using her manipulation skills to weed the information out, and is still worried about the day she would use them against his kids.

* * *

Their fun had ended too quickly for them to fully enjoy it. Life started to become more troublesome when they started college.

Being accepted into an institute located in Osaka, Shino had already decided to move out of her apartment. She was going to start living in an apartment complex located outside her college. The thing about this apartment was that it was close to two separate colleges, so many students from both institutes would buy a room there.

She should have felt neutral about it, perhaps a little worried and sad that she was going to move out of the building that she had spent her high school life in. However, Shino instead felt anxious. This was because Kazuto had been accepted into the college that shared the apartment complex with hers. It didn't help that Kazuto took the moment they both found out that they're going to be living in the same building to make an off-hand comment while they were hanging out at the Dicey Café with some of their friends.

"While we're at it, we might as well just share the same room," he joked, earning a few jeering whistles from Ryoutarou and Rika.

Shino did not take that lightly, and had not spoken to Kazuto ever since. Even if she did know that Kazuto was only messing around, she still could not believe that he would actually say something that would cause misunderstandings and rumours to fly about. Still, she felt cold for actually ignoring him like that, so she decided to apologise to him when they meet each other again. Maybe she could drop by his room as well.

Turns out that meeting would have to be postponed.

It all happened so fast, Shino had a hard time actually believing it. It was as if the universe had wanted to taunt her, saying that she could not go so long without misfortune. She fell asleep on a bus ride to her new home. She woke up in a hospital with her body broken and ravaged, wrapped in bandages and casts.

It happened after Shino had quietly slipped into a light nap. As if the world was conspiring against her, the brakes on the bus that she rode had suddenly stopped working. The driver started panicking, pulling it and cranking it but to no avail. When the brakes finally responded, it was already too late to stop the vehicle from crashing into a ten-wheeled truck driving the opposite direction.

When an ambulance finally arrived at the scene of disaster, most of the passengers were still alive, albeit barely. A few of them died on the way to the hospital, although more than a quarter of the passengers managed to survive the crash.

Shino was lucky enough to be one of those survivors.

When Shino had awoken, the first thing she saw was her mother and grandparents, all crying and praying for her to live. People had come to visit her occasionally. High school friends, former teachers, and even her friends from ALO. However, the only one who did not make an appearance was Kazuto, the one she had been meaning to meet and Shino had a hard time guessing why.

He had rushed to her house during the Death Gun incident, and even shown time and time again that he had worried over her safety. Was he still offended about the one-sided fight Shino had sparked? Did he not have the courage to walk up to her? Worse, did he decide to cut off contact from her?

Either way, she had decided to keep calm about the situation and just see what develops from then on. Shino knew how dangerous it was to make accusations, and to worry over something. Even if Kazuto did not feel like visiting, she wouldn't hold it against him. She could still meet him in his room and apologise then.

When he finally did show up, it was the day Shino was about to be discharged from the hospital. That was months after she had been admitted in, and she was still resorting to crutches.

The first thing he did when they met was to apologise for not coming sooner. Shino just smiled, glad that he had at least did show up. In an attempt to patch things up, Kazuto had opted to accompany Shino on a shopping trip to replace the items she had lost when the bus had crashed. Not seeing any harm in it, Shino had agreed to it.

The bus crash had destroyed all of Shino's belongings, and she had nothing to her name anymore except for the clothes on her back and the remainder of her items from her mother's home. Shino had taken her time to pick out whatever she might need to live in her new apartment. However, it felt almost impossible for her to replace everything. In fact, she expected her bank account to be reduced to nothing by the end of the trip.

It would have, had Keiko not decided to pitch in.

Ayano Keiko, the lovable Dragon Tamer idol of Kazuto's old high school, had asked the school's board to make a fundraiser to raise enough money to help pay for Shino's medical bill. At first, the school declined. After all, Shino was hardly one of their alumni, and they had enough on their plate as well what with treating the SAO survivors.

That was when the sixteen year old decided to take matters into her own hands. When she pitched the idea to her friends and showed them the newspaper clippings of the accident, they were more than happy to help her and her cause.

However, before she could start, there were two people she had to ask for assistance.

"Kazuto, Rika, can I ask for a favour?"

The two of them listened to the young girl's ideas and were quite impressed that she had thought up of such a noble act. All this while, Kazuto had been questioning himself on whether or not he should visit the girl, while Rika was too busy with her own studies to find the time to help Shino out. Now that Keiko was willing to spend her time and energy for a friend, there was no way they could deny her request.

Kazuto would never admit it, but that was the entire reason why he never visited. He didn't trust himself with keeping the fundraiser a secret from Shino, and he still felt guilty about the unspoken fight they were having before the accident.

In their own way, everyone tried to raise money for Shino's recovery. Doing odd jobs ranging from bake sales to car washes, the twin-tailed girl finally felt proud of herself when they had final raked in enough money for the treatment. That is, however, if they had managed to make it in time.

By the time Keiko had reached the hospital Shino was staying at for the past few months, she had already been discharged and paid her medical bill with her own money, leaving her almost broke. Not being the one to give up so easily, she had contacted Kazuto and asked if there was anything else she could use the money for.

It just so happens that Shino did require quite a sum of money to replace her destroyed belongings.

Proud of the teenager and glad for her assistance, Shino was ever grateful for Keiko's actions. Ever since that day, Shino proudly proclaimed to become Keiko's sister figure which delighted Keiko to no ends. She had always been a single child, and was wondering what it was like to have a sibling. To show her appreciation for the Dragon Tamer even more, Shino had named Keiko the legal guardian to her children, if she ever did have any.

* * *

Ayano Keiko, now known as Fujiwara Keiko, would be a very successful veterinarian in the future. Shino kept her promise of naming her as custodian. Every once in a while, when the two parents were busy, she would leave her kids under the care of Keiko and her husband. It was also a known fact that she had managed to make the chain smoker stop smoking, only by using her gentle persuasion methods and guilt tripping him.

* * *

With the subject of financial aid over and Shino safely studying Criminal Justice in college, their lives had soon returned to their normal routine. More often than not, Kazuto would knock on Shino's door, asking if she was doing well. It had gone to the point that Shino's roommate had given him a spare key just so she wouldn't have to answer the door every time he wanted to check on his friend.

The two of them had been hanging out more and more often ever since that day. It would not be for a while until they started to realise that they had been steadily growing closer, and their simple little outings would soon start to turn into dates. Before anyone knew it, they had become a couple.

If someone asked them when they had gotten together, neither of them cold pinpoint an exact moment. To them, it just felt natural. At the moment that they did start having feelings for each other, they were too busy studying for their respective courses and would barely even touch on the subject of romance. However, the time they spent together had slowly started to change their feelings, making them feel closer than they ever were without actually changing who they were.

Some people didn't even realise they had been dating until they received a wedding invitation from the young couple themselves. Shinozaki Rika still blamed herself for being too busy and not realising that her friends' relationship blossoming.

"Honestly, I still couldn't believe that you two are going to get married!" Rika shouted as they ate at a food court, earning a few odd stares "I mean, you've been dating for years, and I didn't even realise it! What kind of friend am I?"

"A friend who respects her friends' privacy," Shino answered, a little tired from the bombardment of questions she had received from many of her peers.

"Well, I hope you're happy with him," replied the brunette with a cheeky smile "Marriage is a big thing, right? I mean, you couldn't just take it lightly, you know. There's a whole lot of commitment, and it's nothing like a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship you guys have been having. Even my professor said that when you're married, your husband will be your best friend. Telling him everything, entrusting him with your wellbeing… You know, that kind of stuff."

The two shared a laugh as they started reminiscing on the past events of their lives. Out of all of her friends, Shino valued Rika the most. Headstrong, independent, and always a cheerful sight for sore eyes, the blacksmith has proven herself to be one of the most valuable person to have as a friend over and over again. Whether it be Asuna, Suguha, or even Keiko, they all agreed that Rika was the one they would always want to have beside them in their time of need.

However, despite all of Rika's good traits, they had always known to avoid any subject revolving around romance or Kazuto, especially if those two were in the same topic. It was no secret that Rika still held a deep crush for the Black Swordsman of Aincrad, but she has been trying to get over it throughout the years. Shino had actually been conflicted on whether or not to ask the older woman to be her bridesmaid, but ultimately decided for it to be Keiko after considering the brunette's feelings. It was a good thing she did, because that was the key that managed to remove the final shackle from her childhood crush.

Studying Engineering in a local university, Rika was one of the people Shino would always see whenever she logs in to ALO during one of her gaming times. Blacksmithing, monster hunting, and countless hours of training had made the pink-haired gamer become a sort of celebrity in the game. Whenever anyone asks her how she could actually have that much free time, especially regarding her field of study. She would just laugh and change the subject.

It would be months before they found out about the immense pile of stress she was going through and how close she was to committing suicide, even having a suicide note written down on her phone in case she ever needed to use it. Gaming was one of the few things that still kept her sane and not go into a total meltdown.

The one to snap her out of it was, surprisingly, Akiko. Using her information gathering techniques, she soon discovered Rika's current condition and instantly forwarded all of her findings to her friends, this time without asking for a payment. The Rat was not someone who liked seeing her friends dropping to the lowest of the low, and she was sure to stop Rika from doing something stupid like ending her own life.

Confronting her hours after her discovery, Akiko quickly spat out as many motivational speeches as she could think of. It was a hard fought battle between the girl who could get any information out of her clients and the girl who kept everything to herself, but Akiko managed to emerge victorious in the end. For the next few days, Rika would empty out all of her feelings to her friends and family, all the while crying her eyes out.

Shino and Akiko had decided to draw up a schedule for Rika, considering that they were also college students. It took a lot of time to work everything out, but the Blacksmith finally became more level-headed and slowly returned to her cheerful self.

"Hey, have you told Asuna about this?" said Rika, taking a bite out of the burger she had ordered "I know how people feel about inviting their fiancé's ex to their wedding, but she's still our friend, and we-"

"I did."

"You did?!" the older woman almost choked on her food, struggling to swallow both the patty and the information "Wow, that is… God, that is so sweet of you. So, is she coming?"

"Probably not…" Shino replied crestfallen "She says that she's too busy with her studies, and that she couldn't make it back in time."

"I… see…"

Rika looked at her burger once more, wondering what her friend was doing. Even though they were best friends in SAO, the friendly relationship barely made it into the real world. Perhaps it was because both girls relied on each other heavily in the death game, or the fact that there were far less females in the gaming world. Either way, Rika still casually pondered over her friend's condition.

* * *

As time passes on, Rika would become an engineer, working at her own leisurely pace while amazing people with her skills. Her friends did not have to worry about her breaking down any time soon. Her husband had that all worked out for them. He had managed to create a schedule for her that managed to make them both happy, and did not sacrifice any of their free time.

* * *

Shino didn't have anything against the beautiful senior. If anything, she was worried about her. Asuna had slowly reverted back to her perfectionist persona the longer she was in the real world, and that means neglecting to hang out with her friends and keeping her focus on her studies only, not to mention her big fight with Kazuto. It seems as if she was growing distant from the group of friends.

They had all managed to contact Asuna, and each of them tried to get her to relax. However, they all knew that there was some truth to her studying regime when they found out about Rika and her stress problems. In the end, Asuna started becoming less and less prominent in their lives until one day, she stopped appearing altogether.

It is easy to part ways with people forever, and Shino finally understood the gravity of that statement.

Either way, she was in no position to actually force someone to attend her wedding. It didn't help that Shino was feeling quite pessimistic about the entire ordeal the closer they got to the wedding date. Due to her notorious run of bad luck, Shino half-expected a disaster to come and destroy the wedding she had worked so hard to plan for. Her friends had all tried to calm her down, saying that it would be fine and that they could handle whatever comes their way.

Feeling grateful for their help, Shino started to relax and prayed for the best. True to their word, the wedding went off without a hitch. Throughout her life, Shino had always seen terrible things occurring whenever she was happy. That was why she had tried her best to stay neutral about anything and everything. So when the best day of her life went by without any misfortunate events, Shino wondered if maybe her life had started changing for the better.

After saying their vows and sharing a sweet kiss, the married couple had moved in together into Shino's room. Her roommate, although sad that she had to leave her friend, had gone on and on about how she was happy for them, and how they should have gotten together sooner. The couple had been speechless throughout the entire speech, and were slightly glad when she had finally stopped chattering and left them alone.

Time moves on, and the two of them became quite a sensation at their respective colleges. It was rare to find a married couple in college. Being able to juggle their studies along with their housework was quite a feat. Wherever they went, people complimented them on how bold they had been, and how they made a cute couple even before they were together. Although she felt uncomfortable about the attention, Shino had to admit that she was enjoying her time with Kirito.

"You know, an early marriage sometimes lead to divorce. Are you sure you could handle it?" some people have commented when they pass them.

For a while, Shino tended to ignore those statements. Her luck was finally turning out for the better, and they were mostly busy with their studies so she rarely had an argument with Kazuto. However, cold hard reality just had to ruin her current streak of good luck.

It happened one day when Shino was cleaning up her apartment a few months after the marriage. While rummaging through Kazuto's drawers, she came across something that would turn their relationship for the worst.

In her hands was a picture which Kazuto had hidden well beneath several layers of clothes and junk.

As her hands kept trembling, trying to think of a respectable opinion on why her husband was holding on to such a thing, Shino barely registered that the man in question had entered the room. His face fell into shock as the woman slowly turned around, showing him the photograph she had found.

"Kazuto…" she muttered weakly "C-Could you please… explain what this is?"

Kazuto looked at the picture in her hands and stumbled over his words, unable to bring out the words to explain the situation. The photo was that of Asuna, wearing quite a risqué swimsuit on a beach while making a pose that was quite erotic. There wasn't much to say about what it meant when Kazuto had such a thing, but Shino was praying for the best.

"I-It's an old photo…" said Kazuto as he averted his gaze from Shino's eyes "Back when we were high schoolers."

"Kazuto, please," Shino replied, wiping the tears that were starting to form in her eyes "Just tell me the truth…"

There was no way that this was a picture of them during their high school days. For one thing, the beach Asuna was in did not look like any beach Japan had to offer. Not to mention the fact that there were foreigners in the background as well. As far as Shino knew, Asuna never went overseas throughout the year she had been in high school.

"I… It's a… Well, it's sort of a… long story, really…" he muttered, scratching the back of his head in defeat.

Slowly putting the picture down on the bed, Shino briskly walked past her husband and headed straight for the door. She ignored all of his pleads for her to stay, saying that he would explain what was going on. In her heart, all Shino could feel was sorrow and uncertainty.

Her feet dragged her far away from her home, soon leading her totown. Seeing as there was nothing else for her to do, Shino opted to buy snacks to calm down her mind, maybe even go to the shooting range nearby to practice and think over the matter.

She did not expect time to repeat itself once more.

Shino was just idly minding her own business, browsing through the aisles, when it happened. The door was kicked down as an armed robber fired shots into the store. As he barked orders for the cashier to hand all of the money to him, Shino was suddenly reminded of her younger self, scared and confused.

Although she was faced with one of the most terrifying events in her life and her PTSD was slowly kicking in, Shino knew that she had to act. She was already studying Criminal Justice, and was aiming to be an inspector. She had a duty to rescue these people and she had to do it.

While the robber busied himself with stuffing as much money as he can into his bag, Shino begun her assault. Nimbly avoiding her enemy's notice, she crept up behind him and locked his arms behind his back. Her panicking mind was focused on too many things at once for her to coherently understand what she was doing. It must have been a miracle when she actually did notice the man grabbing for a gun in his pocket.

Expertly moving and dodging the criminal's struggling, Shino managed to knock the gun right out of his arm and steal it. With the gun cocked and aimed at the robber's head, the woman's arms suddenly felt weak. Her fingers fumbled with the trigger, unable to fully press it and relieve the man of his life.

For a moment, Shino envisioned her younger self standing beside her, gazing at her in confusion and wonder. What was she doing? Was she really going to end up a murderer again and kill a second man? Even if she was one of the most accurate gunmen her age, did it give her any sort of permission to start killing other human beings?

Her monotonous thoughts fought over and over again, weighing between saving the lives of innocent humans over saving herself from the mental trauma of murdering. She had mulled over her thoughts so much that the robber took the chance to retaliate, slamming into her and stealing his gun back.

"You aren't cut out to be a hero" he muttered, aiming at the trembling woman.

Now that Shino was defenceless, the man fired a shot at her. Her primal shout of pain echoed throughout the walls of the store as the criminal took off past the doors. However, he barely made it past the block when police sirens blared. One of the hostages had managed to call the police officers while Shino was busy struggling with the man, giving them enough time to arrive at the scene of the crime.

Shino, however, did not know what happened next. All she could see, was darkness.

When she came to, Shino realised that she was once again staring at the ceiling of a hospital. Her arm was wrapped securely in a bandage and felt numb, perhaps from the wound she had received from the bullet prior. It was truly amazing how Shino's reflexes had allowed her to block the bullet from hitting any vital organ, but she did not particularly care.

What she did care about was seeing her husband kneeling beside the bed with his head on her covers. A pool of tears had formed from where he was crying. She did not know what to feel in this situation, and how to act. True, she did leave on a bad term with her husband when she thought that he was being unfaithful, but he has shown to care for her to such an extent.

As she pondered whether or not she should wake the man up, the door to her hospital room was opened, revealing a younger girl with a face all too familiar to her.

"Ah, Shino!" she called out "You're awake!"

"Suguha?" Shino muttered as she saw her walk in "What are you doing here?"

"My brother was being very persistent about staying here, so I wanted to bring him lunch," the younger Kirigaya explained "You've been out for almost a day."

Shino stared at her sleeping husband, unwilling to wake him from his slumber. She had thought wrongly of him, thinking that he still had feelings for his former girlfriend and only looked at her as a sort of replacement. She should have known better. Kazuto was more than willing to risk his life for her, yet Shino had walked out on him.

Shino watched as Suguha quietly placed the bento box she had packed next to her older brother, gently ruffling his hair before walking out of the door with a silent wave. She had grown well over the years, and was aiming to become a world renowned kendo master, even planning to open up her own dojo. In fact, the entire reason Shino managed to marry Kazuto despite still being in college was because Suguha went as far as to persuade her parents into agreeing to the marriage. She had always been accepting of their relationship, and would love to have Shino as a sister-in-law.

She knew that Shino would take good care of her older brother, and wouldn't have it any other way. She swiftly walked out of the room, leaving the married couple alone to resolve their differences.

* * *

Suguha is now the proud owner of a kendo dojo, having multiple students and managing to win several competitions. She might not be doing a job that paid well, but she was certainly doing something that she loved doing. She had asked his brother if he wanted to enrol his children into her dojo, but he declined. He considered Takeshi too young to be taking her extreme classes, and Kuroko would never accept it no matter how much they pleaded.

* * *

A few minutes passed by before Kazuto finally woke up, relieved with tears of joy. The two embraced in a warm hug as the man apologised to his dear wife, wishing for her to forgive him for his mistake. For Shino, she did not mind that the fight had occurred. Real life was barely ever like fantasy love stories, anyway. There was no such thing as "Happily Ever After". In fact, she expected their love life to be filled with more trials along the way.

As the two shared another kiss to show prove that they could patch things up again, they swore that they wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

**A/N This has been posted on April Fools' Day. The joke here is that it's a tragedy, posted on a day celebrating comedy! The irony, I tell you!**

**I would first like to thank my good friends Agent 94, Krawling Khaos, and Mr. California for helping me in the update and beta-ing of this fic. Seriously, I couldn't have made it this far without your help! I hope you enjoyed the fic. It was a doozy to write and took me weeks to finish.**

**In order to make the story flow even smoother, I also removed Yui from the story altogether. Seriously, it's hard to place her in a real life setting, you know? Plus, she never did contribute anything to the story.  
**

**In case you haven't noticed, I used the characters' real life names in this fic. Kana Akiko, though, was a name Agent 94 and I thought up together and have agreed as Argo's unofficial real name. If you ever see that name in either Agent's, California's, or my stories, then you know where it came from. Sorry if you didn't know the names, but here is a list for you if you need a reference.  
**

**Kirigaya Kazuto: Kirito  
Asada Shino: Sinon  
Yuuki Asuna: Asuna  
Kana Akiko: Argo  
Ayano Keiko: Silica  
Shinozaki Rika: Lisbeth  
Tsuboi Ryoutarou: Klein  
Kirigaya Suguha: Lyfa  
**

**I really should have posted that on top, but it would totally spoil Argo's big entrance.**


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